Blue Star Chronicles

A couple of weeks ago my mother had a get together with my father’s side of the family. We haven’t seen them so much over recent years primarily because all but one of the brothers are gone. They all died within a few short years and the glue that held the cousins together was gone. My mother has made a real effort to get everyone together on several occasions.

This get together was very nice. I saw my uncle (pictured with his crew above), my father’s brother, who I hadn’t seen in a while. It took me aback a little. He looks and talks so much like my father who has been gone for 20 years now, that it is an emotional experience to be around him. He is still fit and hasn’t really changed that much over the years, even though he is into his 80s now and has had losses that are unimaginable for those of us in a younger generation.

I have done some genealogical research in the past and had discovered that this particular uncle was a war hero. In my mind all of the men that fought in World War II were heroes. But this uncle had flown 20 bomber flights as a tail gunner in the South Pacific during the war. In all the years of my childhood, I never once heard my uncle mention any of that. The brothers, my father and his brothers, always joked about things. They laughed all the time and one of the ongoing jokes was their competition over the different services they had joined. My father was a Marine, one was a Sailor, another in the Army and another in the Air Force. They joked about it, but I never heard them talk about what they had really done during the war.

When I was talking to my uncle a couple of weeks ago I told him what I had found out. I said, ‘You are a hero’. He laughed his loud boisterous laugh that I love so much and said, ‘Honey, I’m not a hero. I just fought in the war like everybody else.’ I persisted. He told me he was nothing but a tail gunner. That’s all. Nothing special.

Since the subject had been brought up, someone asked one of my aunts where my other uncle had been during the war. The uncle who had been in the Navy. She said, ‘Oh, he was in the Mediterranean’. I didn’t know that. I don’t know why I didn’t. He was a little younger than the others and for some reason I had assumed he’d been in the Navy after the war.

She went on to say that he had always told her that when their kids got out of school he wanted to take her and go back to the Mediterranean and show her the places he’d been. She said he told her that he wanted to see what it looked like when it wasn’t bombed and burned. He didn’t live long enough to do that.

My father and his brothers were ordinary men who spent their lives working hard and taking care of their families. They were also veterans of World War II. Each, in his own way, had performed heroic acts in service to his country. When the war was over they came home and picked up their lives. They also performed heroic acts in the ways they lived their lives. They never talked about the war, not really. They never told anyone but their wives, if that, what they had done and what they had experienced.

As a child, I looked at my uncles as just regular people and really they were. I never thought about what they had done or where they had been. One of my uncles on the other side of the family fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Some others went to war and I still have no idea what they did or where they were. They didn’t talk about it.

My husband is a Vietnam Veteran. He also doesn’t talk about what happened there much. He behaves in much the same way the veterans of World War II behaved, even while he talks about it not being fair for the World War II vets to not share their experiences with the family. And now, my own son is in active duty in a foreign war. One generation after the next.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that these were ordinary men who did extraordinary things. That’s who our veterans are. The man who holds an ordinary job may very well have performed heroic acts in another lifetime in another land. I hope we hear more from them before they are gone. I hope we appreciate them more while they are still here.

To my father, my uncles, my husband and my son. To the women who have stood by, supported and loved them. I love you all. Thank you.

video via NRSC

“Nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling

American troops occupiers rather than liberators.”

and

Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don’t just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.

~ Zell Miller, 2004 Republican National Convention Address

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A Gold Star Father’s describes his day at Arlington. Its his first time there.

James Hooker’s War shares how some kids spent Christmas 1944. It puts things in perspective.

My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy reminds us this is also Patton’s birthday.

Michelle Malkin (and others) remind us that Project Valour-IT needs our help. Find out what you can do at Soldier’s Angels.

First hand account and photos of the Wreath Laying Ceremony at Arlington at This ain’t Hell, but You Can See it From Here.

123Beta is doing a leftist blog watch. So far there is very little on the left about Veteran’s Day.

Here’s some more Veteran’s Day articles that are very much worth the read: Hooah Wife and Friends, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Leaning Straight Up, Sister Toldjah, Wizbang, Illusions of Reality, Jawa Report, A Blog for All, Tired of all the Liberal Rhetoric out there, Perri Nelson, The Median Sib, Old War Dogs, Blue Crab Blvd, STACLU, Hot Air, Wake Up America, Blackfive, Political Pistachio